The first thing to note is that IDUN Technologies from Zurich, Switzerland, is not to be confused with IDUN Audio, the Danish company working on embedded spatial audio technology. They are not related; they just happen to be admirers of Norse mythology. I originally confused the two companies, ignorant that Idun is a prominent goddess, "associated with youth, spring, and rejuvenation, the Guardian of Immortality... and consort of Bragi." And just like that, I also learned where the Bragi name comes from :) Apparently, the hearables pioneers share a common admiration for old-Germanic/Nordic mythology. I confess that stories of these gods are to me like the Marvel superhero movies and hifi YouTube videos - they put me instantly to sleep.
Interestingly, Electroencephalography ( EEG) is commonly used to diagnose and monitor sleep disorders, as well as brain research and neurotechnology applications. Maybe I should monitor my own brain electrical activity to understand why I'm highly stimulated while reading a book (I can read a book all in one night, and start the next day perfectly rested), while watching videos of people talking to a camera (or even multimillion-dollar productions of men in tights flying above American cities) instantly drives me to profound sleep.
It seems that after CES 2025, we will gain another interesting way to expand our insights into brain activity and leverage that information, since IDUN Technologies (the Swiss company) will unveil a groundbreaking solution to measure brain activity reliably, directly in-ear. The company will unveil their 4th generation of the IDUN Guardian EEG solution, now integrated into low-power earbuds that are also able to process audio. This expands upon the solution that IDUN already offers for research, and which is able to analyze the raw EEG data, detect jaw clench, and eye movements, directly from a unique IDUN dry electrode material in the earbud tips. In contrast with existing scalp EEG sensors, measuring brain activity this way is much more convenient and comfortable.
In the current hearables development efforts, everyone is looking for new ideas for differentiation and new use cases. IDUN Technologies believes they have created a much thought-after brain interface with large potential in wellness, health, and lifestyle applications. Not to mention accessibility.
IDUN Technologies was founded in 2015 by Séverine Gisin and Simon Bachmann, both health sciences students at the Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zürich, Switzerland, working on a material innovation for sensors developing a dry, flexible, soft, and bio-compatible innovative material. The company was incorporated in 2017, determined to leverage the potential for this new technology, and released its first product, the DRYODE soft sensor material, which ensures critical dry skin contact for in-ear applications.
From its original research, which they explored for scientific research and evaluation purposes, IDUN Technologies is now expanding to a more consumer-focused approach. Working together with Analog Devices provided the analog front-end and biosensors technology that enables making EEG finally a reality in low-power consumer earbuds, also able to support audio. According to an earlier pre-CES teasing announcement, the joint effort promises "a breakthrough in size, power efficiency, and seamless integration of neuroscience into consumer wearables, paving the way for enhanced experiences in entertainment, productivity, and personal well-being."
The new cutting-edge components from Analog Devices used in the "next-gen IDUN Guardian" prototype that will be shown at CES 2025 represent an important leap forward in size, power efficiency, and seamless integration of brain data with audio technology.
Although the details of the Analog Devices components that are used by IDUN Technologies remain under embargo until CES 2025, I had an earlier briefing with co-founder and CEO Simon Bachmann to understand a bit more about this consumer brain-sensing earbuds project and what the joint effort with Analog Devices entails. "Together, we’re paving the way for enhanced entertainment, productivity, and well-being through lifestyle-integrated neurotechnology," Simon Bachmann stated.
Close to the Brain
"In 2020, IDUN Technologies pivoted towards measuring EEG from the ear with our patented DRYODE material. The choice of earbuds came from the intuition that the most widely adopted wearable device in modern society would be one of the best candidates for consumer well-being and health applications: a sort of smartwatch for the brain. Its location is close to the brain, and the reduced movement, thanks to good stabilization in the ear, allows picking up high-quality EEG," Simon Bachmann told me.
In 2019, IDUN Technologies successfully raised a bridge round with multiple investors such as the Sony Startup Accelerator Program. "When we got investment by Sony, we had been thinking about the notion of using the sensor material in the headphones and earbuds space. That was also when the AirPods Pro came out, and suddenly everybody was talking about hearables and headsets and headphones. We decided that year to focus on in-ear EEG monitoring. In-ear brain monitoring," Bachmann adds.
"The vision of our company is making brain sensing accessible to the mass market. Other consumer neurotech companies building headbands, helmets, or headsets that look weird or are uncomfortable, are struggling. So we thought, if we could have something like Google Pixel Buds being capable of sensing your brain and also informing you of mental fatigue, sleep quality, and, for example, having music that is specifically tailored to your mental states or helps you recover faster or concentrate more - this would be a very interesting value proposition."
"We released the first development kit, demonstrating this concept and, in 2023, we brought our first commercial product, the IDUN Guardian. Generation three, which is what we have now, is much, much smaller, much more scalable, and we are shipping that to customers that want to bring neuro technology into their use cases. For example, one of the companies we worked with is called Mindspeaker and they are building a speech-to-computer interface. They're helping people with speech impairments to communicate with their environment based on the brain signals that they can capture with earbuds- Obviously, the hearing aspect is relevant here as well, but it's also the communication aspect too."
"And now you also have Headphones 3.0 and this movement that companies such as Sonical are pushing, since you have more computational power on the device. There is much more activity and dynamism in this market. Then Analog Devices contacted us to demonstrate a prototype together at CES. Switching to one of their components allows us to massively reduce the size, have lower power consumption, and also decrease the battery size. So it's going to be a massive step forward, ultimately to demonstrate the technical feasibility of integrating brain sensing into an everyday consumer product."
J. Martins: So, how will you demonstrate this technology at CES 2025?
Simon Bachmann: For CES 2025, we're demonstrating an application because one of the challenges in brain-computer interfaces is always 'what is it actually going to do'? And how does it improve the experience? We will demonstrate a user interface control application, allowing you to interact with technology in a hands-free, seamless way. And we will demonstrate how it is possible to visualize and sonify your brain waves and create a neuro feedback loop when listening to audio, which can be a very pleasant experience. This is intended to basically spark conversations on how the integration of this technology into headphones could improve the overall experience.
JM: So, you're not looking at showcasing biometrics or medical applications for this demo?
SB: Not for this demo. Because one of the challenges is how to achieve the right impact at a consumer electronics show. We work quite a bit with sleep applications, but the problem with sleep monitoring is that it's incredibly hard to demo. And it kind of doesn't work, right? Maybe at a sleep conference, which is a bit different.
The other area is in cognitive workload and mental fatigue, but a show is a challenging environment, where the noise is high, and it requires time. People don't have time to be there, and a demo needs to be impactful.
JM: And what can you tell us about the platform you are using?
SB: It's basically four channels to measure electrical signals, and we are mainly using that for EEG. And it is optimized for dry electrodes. This is also important, because those are different input impedances, so it needs to be adapted for that. Another thing which we benefit from is that the solution has built-in filters to clean up signals and ensure that they're accurate. For us, that makes a lot of sense. It also measures the impedance of the skin, and this is something that actually our users are highly interested in, since ideally they would want to have as much impedance information as possible - you could also use that for breathing or stress levels, for example.
It also has safety features like pacemaker detection and protection against electrical shocks, which is beneficial for us. But I guess the most important point is that the platform is small and energy-efficient, to be integrated into compact low-power devices. That's very important for us.
JM: Following this joint demonstration with Analog Devices at CES 2025, what is your roadmap for implementation in hearables specifically?
SB: In the beginning of 2025, we will announce an audio development kit. And it's going to be the first generation from the IDUN Guardian that combines audio functionality and brain sensing. One of the critical things that we want to achieve together with Analog Devices is getting market feedback and assessing market interest from OEMs for this technology integration.
And at the same time, we want to show the technical feasibility to the OEMs. With the Gen 4 that we're announcing at CES, we still have a wired version, with a physical connection between the two ear pieces. But now we have received two and a half million in this recent financing round to support the development of true wireless stereo (TWS). So, the next step will be a TWS form factor. And basically for 2026, we're looking at the capability for OEM integration. That's going to be our technology platform generation five, which we're looking forward to.
So basically, 2025 is really about business development with audio customers, understanding how they're using the development kit for audio applications and then in 2026 and 2027 we want to take it to market with OEMs.
And this is going to be a licensing agreement, where we have a reference design, and we can go to OEMs and say which components they need to have. One of the unique parts is the ear tip for these earbuds, which needs to be an electrode. We have the intellectual property and the technology to do that as a highly mass-manufacturable process. One of the challenges that we also see with other neurotech companies is that a lot of them have custom sensor development, but it's incredibly hard for them to industrialize this process. And this is something that we have been able to do as well.
Another thing that we're going for is also multichannel and the Analog Devices AFE supports this as well - multichannel per ear. Especially if you go to TWS, you want to be able to have multiple channels in one ear.
JM: Your reference design will always include hardware and software, correct?
SB: Yes. In a sense, what we're trying to promote is a platform for companies to build brain-powered applications, but the challenge is this needs hardware, and we are working very hard to commoditize the hardware, so we will be able to build applications on top. It's a bit of a phased approach, because the first thing that needs to happen is for headphones to be capable of sensing brainwaves. For that, you need electronic components, you need the electrodes, and you need some signal processing. Ideally, at the end of the day, you also have an application that impacts the user in a positive way.
Today, you have wearables that are measuring your sleep and they're telling you how to improve your sleep, and you have wearables that are tracking your productivity and they're telling you how to improve your productivity, but what you don't have is a combination of those two things.
We see a unique opportunity to have a form factor that is measuring sleep and improving your sleep; and also measuring and improving your daytime performance. You get the 24/7 type of approach that isn't available in current wearable devices. In today's neurotech market, many applications are currently being discussed openly, but none of them has had a mass market impact so far. We are very conscious about that and we're trying to partner with industry leaders in different fields to build these success stories. We think that with this platform approach, we will be able to deliver those answers to the OEMs in the next 24 months.
This joint effort with Analog Devices marks a major milestone in our ambitious journey to bring brain-sensing earbuds to the mass market. With their cutting-edge technology, we’re making a significant leap in technological maturity, helping our customers scale neurotechnology into their consumer products and unlocking exciting new possibilities for brain-computer interaction. aX
IDUN Technologies will be promoting these demonstrations at the Analog Devices suite (West Hall, Rooms 237/238), during at CES 2025.
www.analog.com
www.iduntechnologies.com
